Street-railway switch.



G W THOMPSON STREET RAILWAY SWITCH. angulo! nun nso, a, 1902*.

UNITED STATES Patented September 22, 1903.

PATENT FFICE.

' STREET-RAILWAY SWITCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Pate-nt N o. 739,742,`dated September 22, 1903. Application filed December 2, 1902.` Serial No. 133,535. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GnoRGE W. THOMPSON,

a citizen of the United States of America, re-

sidingatlittsburg,in the county ofAllegheny 5 and State of Pennsylvania, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Street- Railway Switches, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relatesto certain new and useful improvements in switches; and the invention has for its object to provide a switch which may be conveniently and easily operated by the motorman from the car.

The invention is particularly adapted to be used in connection with street-railway switches, and has for its further object to provide a normally open switch, whereby an nninterrupted travel on the main line may be 2o obtained; and the invention further resides in means for automatically opening the switch after a car has passed onto the side track, so that the main line will again be in position for traffic of following cars.

Briefly described, the invention comprises, in connection with4 a pivoted switch-tongue, a cable which is connected to the tongue and is extended over pulleys suitably arranged in the road-bed and pivotally connected at its one end to the trip located adjacent to one of the rails, whereby it may be engaged by mechanism suspended from the car. The other end of .the cable is likewise pivotally connected to the trip located adjacent to one of the rails of the track, whereby it may be engaged by the car mechanism for operating the cable to close the switch. All of this construction will be hereinafter more fully described, and specifically pointed out in the claim.

In describing the invention in detail reference is had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, and wherein like numerals of reference indicate like parts throughout the several views, in which- Figure l is a top plan view of my improved switch, the casing for the operating-cable being removed. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical sectional view. Fig. 4c is a central vertical sectional View of the preferred form of operating-shaft 'switch-tongue, which forms a part of the sidetrack rail 3.

In practice the switch is normally open, in which position itis shown in Fig. l of the drawings. The invention resides particularly in the means for closing the switch-tngue, so as to permit the car or cars to pass onto the side track when desired. To accomplish this, I employ a cord, cable,chain, or likeexible connection 6, the one end of `which is attached to the trip 7, pivoted at a point adjacent to the main rail2, preferably underneath this rail, where it may be engagedV by mechanism supported from the car. This cord, cable, or other iie'xible connection is passed through a casing S, located outside the rail 2, and in which are arranged pulleys 9 l0, the former placed adjacent to the trip 7 and the latter placed opposite to the switch-tongue 5.` The cord,cable, orother flexible connection is passed through underneath the rail 2 after being carried over the pulley IO and is conducted through a casing ll, arranged between the main rails on the track and alongside of the rail V3. In this casing the {ieXible connection is conducted over a series of pnl- Yleys 12 and is carried underneath the rail 1 (to a point some distance beyond said rail and over the pulley 14:, then underneath the sidetrack rail 3, over the pulley 15, and is connected to the pivoted trip 16, located adjacent to said rail 3 and preferably underneath the same. In ord-er to operate the switchtongue, the flexible connection is connected thereto, which may be by a bolt or pin 17 or other suitable connection. The trips are adapted to be engaged by mechanism suspended from the car, which preferably comprises a stem or arm 18, to which the shoe 19 is connected by means of the sti coil-spring 20. I provide this spring-shoe so that in case the switch-point should be obstructed the shoe will be permitted to spring past the trip without bringing undue strain upon the flexible connection, the spring being of sufticent strength so that operation of the switchpoint will take place in event of no obstruction being presented thereto.

IDO

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In a switch, the combination with the main 5 and the side track rails, and a switch-tongue pivoted to the ends of one of said side rails, of a casing located outside of 'the main side rails and extending parallel thereof, pulleys arranged in said casing, a casing arranged c between the main rails and extending along the side of the side-track rails, the last-named casing passing underneath the other main- -track rails, pulleys arranged in the said casing, a flexible connection secured to a joint in the first-named casing and passing over 15 v the pulleys arranged therein, then passing beneath the said main track to the other said casingl and passing over the pulleys arranged therein, a trip pivoted adjacent the end of the first-named casing and connected to the end of the ilexible connection, a like trip pivoted- 

